Welcome back to season #2 of the podcast. We are back with a practical and exciting new series on the podcast all about The Productive Household. Listen in to hear how we can recapture joy and meaning within our homes.

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Links & Resources:

• Find out and join our new 12 month course at myhomemakingmentor.com
• Check out the shownotes and join me email list at FindingJoyinYourHome.com
• For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to TakeCareOf.com and enter code home50
• Go to HelloFresh.com/homemaking16 and use code homemaking16 for 16 free
  meals across 7 boxes AND 3 free gifts!

Announcements: 

• Tickets are going on sale for our 2023 Finding Joy in Your Home Online Conference in early November
• We have something fun coming up in October for those interested in non-toxic home products and how to make your own! 
• My cookbook is slated to come out in the Christmas shop as well as Sterling Spectacles #5 and #6!
• My Homemaking Mentor is kicking off a 12 month program called The Productive Household starting Sep 15th

What is a Productive Household? 

Jason and I have been listening to a podcast we loved called Bright Hearth. In it, the shows hosts Brian and Lexi go through each room of their house and share how we can bring glory to God within those different rooms and realms of raising a family. 

They use this phrase a lot: A Productive Household. I love this term because I think it encompasses so much of what we talk about and share here at Finding Joy. 

So what is a Productive Household? 

When we look to God’s Word, we see that we are created for work. Good, hard work is deeply satisfying and we see that man was tasked with work before the fall, not as a result of the fall. 

Throughout Scripture we see men and women working hard and diligently. We see all throughout the call to cast aside laziness and to work hard unto the Lord. 

Colossians 3:23-24“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” 

1 Corinthians 15:58 – “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” 

 Proverbs 12:11 – “Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.” 

We are encouraged to be lazy in our culture 

We live in a hustle culture. We are far too busy and far too distracted. I agree with that. We pack our lives too full and take on too much and hustle to make it all work. 

So many well intentioned voices out there push back against this hustle culture by shouting that we must rest and have balance.

I totally get that those voices (at least the ones in my inbox) are coming from a good place. They don’t want to see another mom get burnt out or overwhelmed. I get the sentiment. 

However, I also think that an over reaction to the hustle, busy culture has sent us in the opposite direction. That we see work as bad. That when things get tough or overwhelming, that we must be doing something wrong. That a full schedule and a full life is automatically wrong. 

What I want to argue for today is this: That God created us for hard work. That we are designed to work hard throughout the week and that God has built in very strategic good moments for rest. And that what we really need to react against are the wrong priorities. 

If you think of every civilization throughout history, except for the ultra rich and nobility, people worked far harder than most of us do everyday. Hard, back breaking work. Working from sun up to sun set, working hard for the Lord. 

The kids and I have been studying the pioneers this past semester in school and we are reading the little house on the prairie book series and watching the show. And something you glean from these, that we’ve talked a lot about, is how hard working they are. 

They had to work for their very survival. For their clothes, for heat, for their daily bread. And they did it with such joy, even in the face of terrible tragedies and hardships. And you glimpse how deeply satisfying their work was and how they did it really knowing that God is in control because they didn’t have automatic plumbing, freezer food and Taco Bell to fall back on. 

I am not going to tell you in this series, that you need to just work harder, sleep less, and be miserable, don’t worry. But I do want to challenge your idea of work, your attitude when times get hard or overwhelming, and the things you spend your time on. 

There’s this thing in Christian circles where we tend to loathe the Proverbs 31 woman. We don’t always say it aloud, but that under current is there. If someone mentions her, the eye rolls begin and you can tell brains start to check out of the conversation. 

“She seeks wool and flax,

    and works with willing hands.

She is like the ships of the merchant;

    she brings her food from afar.

She rises while it is yet night

    and provides food for her household

    and portions for her maidens.

She considers a field and buys it;

    with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

She dresses herself with strength

    and makes her arms strong.

She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.

    Her lamp does not go out at night.

She puts her hands to the distaff,

    and her hands hold the spindle.

She opens her hand to the poor

    and reaches out her hands to the needy.” – Proverbs 31:14-20

And the verses go on! So many of us react negatively against the idea of the Proverbs 31 woman because we see this giant to do list of things, that most of us have nothing to do with. 

In our modern society, we don’t need to seek out wool and flax to literally create our clothing, we don’t have to rise at dark and go down to the docks to secure food for our family, gardening or raising our own food is seen as purely a hobby, we don’t have to fear for winter or heat or the availability of McDonalds and Starbucks on every corner. 

And a lot of this, we can be thankful for. We can be thankful for advancements in civilization that bring us things like dishwashers, laundry machines, and vacuum cleaners. 

But with all of these labor saving devices and things that are suppose to make our life easier: Are we happier? Are we more joyful? Are we using these modern conveniences to better our family and work more diligently for the Lord? 

Or has our modern conveniences, by and large, made us lazy and slothful. Because we don’t see the food and cleanliness of our homes as literal survival, have we forgotten how important these things truly are? 

AND has our modern technology, while a huge blessing in many ways, made us so distracted and frazzled that we are busy and rushing every single second of the day, but also left spinning our wheels and not really accomplishing much? 

Throughout our new series in the Productive household, I want to challenge you on this. I want to look at some areas in our homes that are worth investing in, that are worth working really hard in, and are worthy of our time. I want to look at how we can work harder but focusing on true, Biblical rest as our anchor (and what that looks like),  and I want all of us to truly look and reevaluate the priorities we have. 

In my membership program, My Homemaking Mentor, we are going to really dive into the practical aspects of this. Really quickly I’ll share what we are going to cover in our 12 month program (which you can join at ANY time)!! 

Quarter 1: The rest of September through end of December will be on Practical Household management. We will cover planning & time management,  cleaning and routines, and personal development. 

Quarter 2: January – March theme is Mastering your kitchen. We will cover hospitality, from scratch basics, putting together meal plans.

Quarter 3: April – June theme is Gardening + preserving the harvest. We will cover gardening basics, cooking from your garden, and preserving. 

Quarter 4: July – September theme is Handicrafts and so much more! We will cover Sewing and mending, designing your household with intentionality, other handicrafts and practical skills. 

On the podcast this month: 

Ep 2: Working hard for God’s Glory – Striving for excellence but resting in Him. 

Ep 3: When your home is boring 

Ep 4: When you lack energy (and direction) 

My schedule is subject to change as I dive into the topics, they might get combined/expanded!